OYRA Duxship

[Photoboy]

33 to 0 with downhill runs to and from Red Rocks on the inside the bay course which took the place of the Duxship Buoy to Sf Entrance Buoy event as wind were forecasted to be mid to high 30's this afternoon.

Was about to head out the door at 1:30 and saw the sea state was a frothing mess...glad I was not standing on the big orange thing waiting in vain...

[Andy Newell]

The decision to stay in the bay was not taken lightly. The OYRA board the the PRO have been discussing it for the last 36 hours or so and did not make the call until right before the race. We checked every available source for forecasting and as the start got closer so did the forecasts. We do this for FUN, right? The alternate course was added a few years ago so we don't have to outright cancel a race when we are all dressed up with no place to go. I think it was a fun day.

Just to be specific, this was our decision. The Coast Guard did not keep us in the bay and were fine with us going out if we chose to.

[Aussie]

Results are here:

www.jibeset.net/YRA000.php?RG=T006606670

[bobw]

t was a good call to stay in the bay. I was looking forward to the two out of three off the wind legs offshore but it could have been hairy. The alternate course was interesting, fun, and a hell of a lot warmer than we would have been in the gulf. Here's hoping that's the only alternate we do this year.

bw

[BobJ]

I wish I'd responded to the e-mails on Friday night, when some of the skippers were fishing around about the weather. I'd forgotten about the alternate course and wasn't excited about that beat up to Duxbury given the forecast. Good call.

Instead of the race, I did the "right thing" and attended my daughter's final marching band review of the season, then worked on a couple more PacCup prep projects and met with Gordie about my inspection.

[Wylieguy]

Nick Sands was up on the Marin Headlands yesterday. He said it was blowing stink and there were whitecaps over the horizon with significant swells. I agree that "inside" was a good call yesterday. It was interesting enough when the wind kicked in just in time for that ebb-chop beat back to Blackaller. We saw 33 knots at least twice and consistent mid-twenties most of the time. I'm always jealous of the Richmond-Estuary boats who "downwind" their way home after a City Front finish. We close reached into the chop on the wettest leg of the day - back to Sausalito. Thanks to the South Beach YC Race Committee for their hard work and to the StFYC for the race deck. -- Pat

[Thing-Fish]

I managed to find a new way to fuck up a race, miscalculate by an hour the time I needed to leave my house to make the start line. I had a nice daysail around the bay instead. I didn't even realize the ocean course was cancelled. Well, on to SHF.

[Idiotwind]

We (Skipper Steve Buckingham, and crew Jen McKenna and myself), were good to go offshore. Full metal jackets, and shit. But, no. We were a bit grumpy, but shifted gears. The inside option was actually quite the technical course, as reflected in the results. We got as far as second, overall, and learned a lot about the boat. Watch out in the Jr. Waterhouse!

At RYC, after putting Starbuck away, Will Paxton was quite bent out of shape on the "Inside" call. I'm sure many were. But I see a lot of boats who aren't likely to be up to 35 kts on the nose for 4 hours. At least, looking at their profiles at the start. Most are up to it, but I'll go with the RC, until we get back to 20th-century style racing, when overnight races were regular, and navigation was DR. I don't want to be the Coastie picking up debris off some sportboat disaster.

[DeathSpear]

Personally I think this is nonsense. Many of these boats are prepping for Pacific crossings. This is part of getting to know your boat and your crew. There are no babysitters at 2 in the morning in the dark when it pipes to 35 and you need to do a hairy drop or pull in a reef. You need to get exposure to the conditions. Perhaps most of the fleet would have turned back and not finished. That is a perfectly reasonable outcome. They would have learned from the experience.

[Nick Salvador]

Daniel, while I might agree with you in principle, what you claim is "many" is actually 4 of 35. Bear in mind now, there is nothing, and no one standing in the way of ANY of the PacCup crews from going out in the snottiest conditions possible. My gang and I did it in '12 on a Sunday night, sailing to Pt. Reyes and back in 30-35 just to test the keel and rudder mods. We didn't need a race for our tests.

Perhaps you need to give the axe you're grinding a frigging rest. If you wanted to take the Spear out on the ocean on Saturday, nothing was stopping you.

[DeathSpear]

NS, so what is your point, you agree that we should be testing boat and crew by exposure to rough conditions. But not under racing we pay to enter, to get some of that exposure? What makes you think my comments had anything to do with the Spear? Seem to me you are the one with the axe.

[DeathSpear]

The decision to stay in the bay was not taken lightly. The OYRA board the the PRO have been discussing it for the last 36 hours or so and did not make the call until right before the race. We checked every available source for forecasting and as the start got closer so did the forecasts. We do this for FUN, right? The alternate course was added a few years ago so we don't have to outright cancel a race when we are all dressed up with no place to go. I think it was a fun day.

Just to be specific, this was our decision. The Coast Guard did not keep us in the bay and were fine with us going out if we chose to.

Sorry Andy, I know you mean well, but I thought the whole point is that it should be decision of each skipper. You all require us to sign our names on every race registration attesting just that. Perhaps those conditions are fun for some people, and if not they don't have to go racing. I would think that a majority of the boats that showed up to the line had been looking at the same forecasts, had their own crew discussions, and had decided it was something they were willing to at least try.

[BobJ]

Some of the more experienced skippers had a chance to talk about it Friday night. I assume their conclusions were communicated to the race committee. This way a race could still be completed and standings maintained.

Moreover, when you signed up for the season you knew the SI's would include an alternate Bay course.

I'm not keen on rehashing this debate, especially among skippers who are not participating in the season.

[bobw]

Sorry Andy, I know you mean well, but I thought the whole point is that it should be decision of each skipper. You all require us to sign our names on every race registration attesting just that. Perhaps those conditions are fun for some people, and if not they don't have to go racing. I would think that a majority of the boats that showed up to the line had been looking at the same forecasts, had their own crew discussions, and had decided it was something they were willing to at least try.

I'd agree with this in principle, but it is still the RC's job to pick the course, not the skippers. If you don't like the possible courses, don't sign up for the series.

Once they pick the course, as you say, it's the skip's decision to sail it or not. I've done the 30+ knots on the nose for hours in my boat, and frankly I'm glad we didn't have to do it Saturday--I had much more fun on the alternate course. I was down to shorts and bare feet before Blossom--delightful.

I realize others might have had more fun on course 1--ok; or that there's boat testing or training to do--ok; but as others have said, there's nothing stopping you from doing that in between races.

Having said that--I sure hope this is the only alternate course we do this year.

bw

[Andy Newell]

I think it is a shared decision. If the forecasts had been 15-25 we would have run the offshore race. If conditions then deteriorated to the 31 gusting to 40 that PB lists above it would have been each skippers responsibility to know when to bail out based on the characteristics of their boat and ability of their crew. We did have one boat who showed up late for the start go for a day-sail out the gate. He reported breaking waves on Potato Patch and came back in.

We may have to agree to disagree, but I think the race organizer also has a responsibility to use reasonable judgement on whether to start a race in certain conditions. The OYRA board has been discussing this for a few years now and we have even looked at non-race day forecasts and discussed whether or not we would recommend racing. RRS says the race committee (organizer) may abandon a race (whether or not it has started) because of foul weather, or for any other reason directly affecting the safety or fairness of the competition.

The in-the-bay course is simply an alternative to abandoning the race which was done in the past. Had the forecast for in the bay been the same as for outside we would have abandoned. We saw 25 gusting to 33 on the bay. There were opportunities for reefing, doing sail changes that were too late and crashing with the spinnaker, and we were done by 2:30 or 3:00 so anybody who really wanted to practice in those conditions had plenty of opportunity to stick around and do so on their own time.

There is, or should be, a difference in preparation for boats doing OYRA and boats doing Spin, Coastal, Pac cup or whatever grail they seek. The coastal equipment list was prepared for OYRA coastal races and does not include a whole list of stuff that boats venturing further out have to have (liferafts, rigging cutters, damage control stuff, etc, etc). The coastal list assumes a high likelihood of timely rescue, either by a fellow racer or the USCG and in the conditions on Saturday that was not something we could assume.

So far, other than you, all the racers who have contacted me have been supportive of our decision to stay inside.